Carissa Stanton of Brocc Your Body Proves That Healthy, Delicious Eating Can Still Be Fun
Written By: Keana McGrath
Photographed By: Erin Wiese Carissa Stanton
Carissa Stanton of the healthy food blog, Brocc Your Body, is all about balance. Yup, that’s right. Broccoli and bagels—you can have both! With a degree in kinesiology emphasizing in fitness, health and nutrition, Stanton is an advocate for healthy eating and fitness, but she also loves a good red wine blend. Her blog and Instagram are dedicated to creating healthy spins on the food we grew up eating. Oh, and Crunch Wrap Supremes (I’m looking at you, Freshman 15). Not only are her recipes delicious, but they are also affordable and easy to make. Stanton makes a point to create meals and snacks that are economical for the wallet and the waistline.
Brocc Your Body started a year and a half ago after some encouragement from her friends and Mitch, her fiancé and official taste-tester. “Whenever I would cook for my girlfriends on girls night, they would ask me for recipes. My blog kind of became a way to share my recipes in one accessible place. And, these recipes live there, so I can always go back to them if need be.” Being passionate about food her whole life, cooking came naturally to Stanton. “I really learned how to cook in college. You know, you become more health conscious during that time and it encouraged me to learn how to recreate the meals I loved with healthier ingredients.”
But living a healthy lifestyle is all about balance. Stanton still goes out to eat and indulges from time to time. In fact, a lot of her recipes are inspired by the meals she tries while she’s out. “My page is what it is because I love bagels and cream cheese, and I still go out and eat whatever I want on a regular basis,” Stanton says. “I will never feel guilty about going out to eat. Most often those kinds of meals inspire me to go home and try to put my own spin on them.” She also finds her inspiration for recipes by looking at what’s seasonal at grocery stores and getting creative. For winter and spring, she loves making squash-based meals and soups. Oh, and not to mention her to-die-for Zucchini Boat Pizzas. “Making healthier options on old school classics is a huge inspiration to me. You can still eat things like pizza and pasta and live a healthy lifestyle.” Amen, Carissa, Amen.
What sets Stanton apart from other food bloggers is her passion for creating recipes that anyone can make as well as her connectivity with her followers. “I love that I can help people…I strive to feel connected to my followers and I love getting their feedback. It makes my day when I hear people tell me that they never knew healthy food could taste so good.” She does most of her shopping at Trader Joe’s or Costco, making her ingredients cost-effective and easy to find. Brocc Your Body makes healthy living and eating tangible and exciting. Hey, Stanton’s recipes have turned me into a cook, and that’s saying something!
When it comes to a healthy lifestyle, fitness and nutrition go hand-in-hand. “Having a healthy lifestyle is much easier than people think. People assume that you need a strict diet or that you have to do hardcore Pilates every day,” Stanton says. “But it’s so much easier than that. It really is a balance. You just have to eat somewhat healthy, get out there and sweat. You don’t need to be tracking calories or putting yourself on all of these strict diets. Just keep track of what you’re putting into your body and be conscious about it. Your body knows what it needs.”
www.broccyourbody.com
@broccyourbody
